Guest Post: The Amethyst

Today, a guest post written by my best friend, Carly H. She blogs over at http://growingbutterfly.wordpress.com/. She told me a few weeks ago about her fascination with amethyst geodes, and her metaphor that we are not unlike them. Then she recently discovered the links to sobriety and just had to tell me. I joined in her fascination so I asked her to write a little post for you guys, since it was her idea. 🙂

I have always been fascinated by amethyst geodes. From the inside, they seem to contain an entire world full of crystallized purple cliffs. They’re hypnotizing with their beauty, mystifying in their origin.

From the outside, they look like nothing. A nameless gray rock, just like the countless ones you’ve thrown into the water at the beach. How did someone finally figure out what was really inside? Was it by accident? Did someone take a hammer and obsessively begin cracking away, determined to find something more valuable?

Whenever I see geodes, I see humanity. I see something that was so beautifully hidden right under my nose, but it took a brutal crack to notice it. I see “don’t judge a book by its cover.” I see the God who put them together like a secret.

According to Greek mythology, Amethystos (meaning “not drunk” or “sober”) was a human who refused the attentions of the god of wine and drunkeness, Dionysus. As centuries passed, people believed that amethyst contained properties you could take to help you remain sober.

I am an amethyst. You are an amethyst. In each of us lies a shell that is rough and gray; beneath its surface, a speechless beauty. To get beneath the surface, I believe we must remain sober. Not just in our blood-alcohol levels, but in life. Let us be awake and aware of every single thing that is happening in our lives. Even if it’s painful, let us not choose the numb. Let us choose the life, the beautifully jagged purple life. Let us be cracked open and put on display, so that the world knows there is more to us than meets the eye. The world, if it’s smart, will thank us and join in.